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MetroPCS won't unlock your devices after 90 days of payments???

So I paid my 3rd installment since joining MetroPCS today, and I tried to unlock my devices which failed. I called CS, and they said sorry, you've not had them active for 90 days. I responded that of the 4 devices, all of which I've been paying for, 1 broke and I replaced it with another I had in a sealed box, and the other 2 I gave as Christmas presents about 40 days after I purchased them and started paying for them. So they tell me I have 1 phone that's okay to unlock (the broken phone) and 3 more that are 50-75 days out. They say there is absolutely nothing they can do. Is this true? If so, it's absolutely ridiculous and the worst experience I've had with MetroPCS thus far. Really thinking about a move to Red Pocket, as they/Verizon have been very good about this stuff before.

As far as iOS devices go, it’s been reported in this forum that there’s 2/3 day “slack time” after the 90 day unlock period for the devices to unlock.

No idea about Android. It’s been reported in the past that Android devices will unlock via the Metro Unlock App after 90 days, service or no service. Has that loophole been changed? Maybe. If the phones aren’t active on Metro, it’s possible/probable they’re not going to unlock them.

The best course of action I’d recommend is going to the store where you got the phones in question and ask them “What's going on here?”, and seeing if they can help.

No idea what moving to Red Pocket/Verizon will accomplish if the some of phones are locked, at least until they can be unlocked.

p.s. I also gave out two Android phones I got for Christmas gifts; I paid $25 each to unlock the phones so that the recipients could use them without any problems like the one you’re posting about.

As far as iOS devices go, it’s been reported in this forum that there’s 2/3 day “slack time” after the 90 day unlock period for the devices to unlock.

No idea about Android. It’s been reported in the past that Android devices will unlock via the Metro Unlock App after 90 days, service or no service. Has that loophole been changed? Maybe. If the phones aren’t active on Metro, it’s possible/probable they’re not going to unlock them.

The best course of action I’d recommend is going to the store where you got the phones in question and ask them “What's going on here?”, and seeing if they can help.

No idea what moving to Red Pocket/Verizon will accomplish if the some of phones are locked, at least until they can be unlocked.

p.s. I also gave out two Android phones I got for Christmas gifts; I paid $25 each to unlock the phones so that the recipients could use them without any problems like the one you’re posting about.

They're Android. Clearly MPCS just doesn't want to do it, as you noted there are other companies that will unlock the devices for a fee. Very disappointing they choose not to do it, even when you're been a customer in good standing. No one is trying to get away with anything here - why penalize people that sign up without needing devices, or whose devices break during this arbitrary period? I realize they don't want people grabbing subsidized phones and then leaving, but I've been here for 3 months and I'm planning on staying. Really it's only a problem for one phone that I'd like to give to my young son to use and he's the only one not on our family plan at this time.

the system checks the ACTIVATION date for the phone it's not like other carriers where it still has to be active to be unlocked, or wait a year like all other prepaid carriers, once it's been activated in the system that is the date the app will check, if it hasn't been activated and has sat in a box you must wait 90 days from that date, anytime you get a warranty phone it should unlock right away because most of them have been activated the first time much prior to the time you got it, unless it's a brand new model phone.

So I paid my 3rd installment since joining MetroPCS today, and I tried to unlock my devices which failed. I called CS, and they said sorry, you've not had them active for 90 days. I responded that of the 4 devices, all of which I've been paying for, 1 broke and I replaced it with another I had in a sealed box, and the other 2 I gave as Christmas presents about 40 days after I purchased them and started paying for them. So they tell me I have 1 phone that's okay to unlock (the broken phone) and 3 more that are 50-75 days out. They say there is absolutely nothing they can do. Is this true? If so, it's absolutely ridiculous and the worst experience I've had with MetroPCS thus far. Really thinking about a move to Red Pocket, as they/Verizon have been very good about this stuff before.

I don't how you see it's ridiculous though every single carrier requires 1 year and must be in use that entire year, if you change phones a month before they will not honor the request, metro pcs is one of the only carriers I know that unlocks within 90 days. The point is to keep you from buying a phone and taking it to another carrier, 90 days is when metro pcs starts making money on a phone after all the instant rebates, if you left the 1st or 2nd month they would lose money, at least your not having to wait longer, and it's the only carrier I know with a built in app to unlock it vs trying to call and do a million things to even try and get the process done. Good luck!

I don't how you see it's ridiculous though every single carrier requires 1 year and must be in use that entire year, if you change phones a month before they will not honor the request, metro pcs is one of the only carriers I know that unlocks within 90 days. The point is to keep you from buying a phone and taking it to another carrier, 90 days is when metro pcs starts making money on a phone after all the instant rebates, if you left the 1st or 2nd month they would lose money, at least your not having to wait longer, and it's the only carrier I know with a built in app to unlock it vs trying to call and do a million things to even try and get the process done. Good luck!

Great points. Metro has the shortest unlock waiting period in the industry.

Yeah, they are all brand new Stylo 3 Plus phones. I didn't just activate them all immediately because a) they were gifts and b) MetroPCS is the only GSM carrier I've dealt with that forces you to update your IMEI to use your SIM between every single swap.

When I had Metro, 90 days ended one day before I had to leave the country. The refused to unlock the phone on the 90th day and I had to wait 2 weeks, until the day before I came back to the States, for them to send me the unlock code. After that, I decided to just buy my phones unlocked out of the box so I never had to go through that crap again.

I don't how you see it's ridiculous though every single carrier requires 1 year and must be in use that entire year, if you change phones a month before they will not honor the request, metro pcs is one of the only carriers I know that unlocks within 90 days. The point is to keep you from buying a phone and taking it to another carrier, 90 days is when metro pcs starts making money on a phone after all the instant rebates, if you left the 1st or 2nd month they would lose money, at least your not having to wait longer, and it's the only carrier I know with a built in app to unlock it vs trying to call and do a million things to even try and get the process done. Good luck!

Cricket unlocks after 6 months and used to have a policy where if you had a certain plan they would unlock the phone right away, but I get your point. Metro is smart enough to know that a number of customers will unlock the phone, send it to relatives in other countries and buy a new one. Why other carriers don't get this and just unlock the phone in the same time period is beyond me. Unless Sprint's network blows away T-Mobile's network in an area, there's no point in getting a phone with usually lower specs from Boost and waiting a year to have it unlocked when you can get a better model and have it unlocked faster from Metro.